Infernal Apocalypse

The knocks on my door this time were for training, makes sense. Thinking back to last night, or this morning I guess, all the little wounds I picked up and my physical exhaustion are gone after apparently just a few hours of sleep.

Though that didn’t mean my mental fatigue was nonexistent, especially since I woke up a bit hungry once again. I’m guessing it has to do with cultivating. My body is stronger now, so it requires more nutrients to sustain itself? That seems mostly logical, so I’ll run with it for now.

Anyway, it was Richard once again, and once again, it wasn’t a silent walk. After we greeted each other, he began talking about some interesting things. He also didn’t look at me with that same apprehensive look as before. I guess fighting alongside someone can change things.

“Although last night was terrible, some good was able to come out of it, we were finally able to rent out all the available houses in the Outpost. It’s still a bit cramped in all the houses, as the number is limited and its only 4 rooms each, but its much better than what it was before.

“We also bought a couple more health potions, so maybe 1 or 2 of us can attempt to reach the…what was it again…ah yes, the 2nd Cycle of Body Tempering. How about you? Did the orbs help you get anything you needed?”

I think it was a little over a hundred orbs in the pouch. They’ll help but not enough to get me to 1 Silver just yet.

“I haven’t turned them in yet, but I think I still need a bit more. No worries though.”

“Really? If it’s not too much maybe I can help out? How much do you need?”

“Ah its alright, it’s quite a bit. I’ll take care of it, thanks for asking though.”

After some more small talk, we got to the training grounds and Richard was about to walk over to his group when I noticed there wasn’t a full 30 of them present, only around 20. Only two people died in the fight so they should have more. It doesn’t matter too much, but if there was another fight or something I’d like to know.

“Hey Richard. I see your missing some folks, is everything okay?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, some of us managed to finally break through and reach Body Tempering so they are recovering from that. The health potions help but it’s not perfect, so they need the rest.”

“Ah okay got it.”

And with that he went to his group, and I grabbed a wooden spear and walked to the Outpost Leader. A couple more Body Tempering cultivators is a good thing though, we’ll be able to defend the Outpost a lot better if a lot more people cultivated.

Moving on, after greeting the Outpost Leader, another round of grueling pressure resistance training began. I know it’s a good thing, and it’s proven that it helps, but it still sucks to go through with it every time I advance.

Anyway, before long it was over, and it was finally time to leave once again. But as I was leaving, the Outpost Leader said something in my mind and disappeared right after.

‘The Dungeon recommendations are just the minimum. Bring a bag.’

Well…I don’t know exactly what that means yet, but I can take a good guess. If the Dungeon says it recommends 20 people to clear it, you may still need more than that to actually clear it.

Interesting.

I wonder if he’ll mind if I shared this with Richard? He didn’t say I couldn’t so why not.

Richard and his group were sparring with each other, while the gat...you know what I’ll call him Instructor from now on…so they were sparring while the Instructor watched on and gave out pointers as needed.

They looked pretty good.

Anyway, I waited for a bit until they looked to be taking a break and called Richard over.

“Hey what’s up?”

He was clearly tired and spoke while panting.

“Sorry to interrupt your training but I have some information for you.”

I told him what I was told, and who said it. He kind of had a similar guess as to what it meant and thanked me for the information. Richard was a pretty smart guy, I’m sure he’ll handle it well.

Moving on, I made my way over towards the shop to exchange the orbs for coins and Greja let me know that my House Rental Pass will expire today, so I used the opportunity to stock up on food pills and more shirts, pants and boots.

I also decided to ask if there was anything new in the shop due to the new stage or anything and she simply replied that I’ll see it eventually.

That kind of threw me for a loop, so I looked through the shop just to make sure I didn’t miss anything and yep there was nothing new. No need to think about it too deeply though, if something new pops up I’ll spot it eventually like she said. Anyway, I decided to stop by the Blacksmith to see if there was anything new there.

I wasn’t disappointed.

Smithy Shop

Please select a category:

1. Weapons

2. Repairs (See Blacksmith)

3. Commissions (See Blacksmith)

4. Knowledge

5. Armor

There was a new category to select. One that I’ve been looking forward to. I clicked into armor and the options were limited but I didn’t care.

Armor

1. Leather Vest – 50 Copper Coins

2. Leather Bracers – 20 Copper Coins

70 copper coins wasn’t a small amount, especially with the purchase I just made to buy the 30 day passes, one of which was 120 Copper Coins by itself. Anyway, not like I wasn’t going to buy it, almost regardless of price. I tended to fight a little recklessly, but I still very much cared about my health and safety, so I quickly confirmed purchase on both of them and soon enough the Blacksmith was handing me my purchase.

“Here’s yer amor. The vest connects to the sides. It’s strong enough to take a blow or two from a 1st Cycle brat.”

A blow or two from someone in 1st Cycle Body Tempering cultivator eh. I can work with that, it’s not like I planned to be indestructible with some armor, but some added insurance is always a good thing.

Both the vest and the bracers were the same deep brown, and they had a slight weight to them which makes sense since it was hard leather armor after all.

I nodded to the blacksmith and instead of simply nodding back he had something to say.

“Yer about to get plenty materials, bring em back here if you want good commissions.”

“…Understood.”

I was a little confused, but I’ll just take it at face value for now. Moving on, which a lot of stuff in my hands, I headed to the Potion shop, maybe this dreaded place got a shop upgrade too.

After walking in, I realized if it did get an upgrade, it definitely wasn’t to the odor of the shop. It still smelled extremely funny.

Though one conversation with the alchemist and there was no upgrade…at least not yet? I don’t know, he was being all weird about it. Either way, I bought a couple health potions and began the trek home.

By the time I got to my house I had passed by a lot of the members of Richard’s group just walking about. I suppose it makes sense I’d be seeing them more often since some of them live right next to me now.

Anway, it’s time to go into a Dungeon.